Rossi raised $1.4 million in a month

Dino Rossi has taken off like a rocket in fund raising for his 2010 U.S. Senate bid, raising $1.4 million in the four weeks after Rossi declared his candidacy against three-term Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

Rossi

The war chest figures for Republican Rossi, filed with the Federal Election Commission, are officially for the second quarter of 2010, ending June 30. But Rossi was a candidate for only a portion of the quarter.

The Murray took in $1.63 million for the quarter, and had $6.8 million in cash on hand as of June 30. A member of the Senate’s Democratic leadership, Murray has raised $11.5 million during the full 2010 campaign cycle.

The Rossi campaign has not yet reported its cash-on-hand figure.

The just-completed quarter saw a dozen Republican senators host a Washington, D.C., fund raiser for Rossi, on the same night that political action committees (PACs) were being asked to pony up $2,500 to Murray at a reception on Capitol Hill.

The Murray coffers were filled by more than $250,000 raised at the senator’s annual “Golden Tennis Shoes” awards luncheon, at which Vicki Kennedy – widow of Sen. Edward Kennedy – put in a guest appearance.

Rossi has another big ticket Washington, D.C., event later this month sponsored by the U.S. Chamber PAC, marking the entrance of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce into the Washington race.

Rossi, boasting more than 5,000 contributors, declared: “The support from donors across the state is inspiring and indicates people here in Washington State are ready for a U.S. Senator who represents families and small businesses instead of DC special interests and the Democratic Leadership who want to keep spending and growing government.”

The fund raising figures come a day when an “independent” group with links high in the Republican Party has launched a $750,000 four-day blitz of “hit” ads directed at Murray.

Murray spent only $1.1 million on her first race for the Senate in 1992.

She raised $13 million in the 2004 contest, in which Murray bested Republican Rep. George Nethercutt.

The 2010 race promises to cost $30 million or more, when expenditures by “independent” groups get factored in.